


Breathe

by Sildominarin



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Brief description of violence, Canon Relationships, Fluff, M/M, Romance, SO MUCH FLUFF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-08
Updated: 2016-12-08
Packaged: 2018-09-07 05:44:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8785393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sildominarin/pseuds/Sildominarin
Summary: it's hard, being separated by such distance.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lonicera_caprifolium](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lonicera_caprifolium/gifts).



Dorian breathes deeply in sleep. It's quiet and measured, a veritable metronome of his life force. On more than one occasion the Iron Bull had laid beside him, his madam safe in his arms, and just listened to the rhythm of it.

It had been unnerving, at first. The Tal-Vashoth had been thrilled when Dorian had finally felt comfortable enough to spend the whole night in Bulls room, but his presence had brought in an unexpected addition: the possibility that he could wake up not next to his 'vint, but to a demon wearing his face. After the fade that had been a nightmare- no pun intended- that he was not keen on facing again. And he trusted Dorian, he did, but...

But the possibility kept him up on a night or two. And it was during those long quiet hours and he had first found himself calmed by the mages breathing. Even in dreams Dorian was calm, and that had in many ways been one of the first thing Bull loved about him.

And then the Storm Coast had happened, the Qun demanding a higher p ice from him than Hissr--no, than  _The Iron Bull_ had been been willing to pay. It had cost him all he'd ever known, everything he'd grown up with. But later, as he sat with his Chargers in the Heralds Rest, it had felt right. It had been worth it.

But for almost a week afterwords he'd woken...unsettled. Quantity did not dream, not in the same ways humans and elves did, but the mercenary had come out of nightmares all the same; nightmares of holding a lifeless Krem while Gatt gloated and soured Koslun in the background. Each time he had needed a few moments to steady himself, to look around and know that his people were saf. To make sure that Dorian was still pressed against him and leeching heat like the hothouse orchid Varric often likened him to. Still there, still safe.

And on those nights, one large hand resting gently on the mage's chest, the Iron Bull listened to him breathe.

But once they had defeated Corypheus, destroyed the Breach a second time and then essentially watched Evelyn save the world, that comfort began to fade. Dorian was in Tevinter for longer and longer stretches, and for the first time Bull began to notice just how cold his bedroll truly was. Even their time in the Winter Place was marred, made heavy by both the Silas's betrayal and Evelyn's pain.

After, too, was Dorians leave taking. It threatened to be a more permanent departure- given his unexpected and unwelcome inheritance- but th speaking crystal was... something. A comfort, certainly, though not as much as having the nave around. The crystal needed only be touching skin to work, and hearing his Karan's voice went a long way to convincing the warrior that perhaps he did more good outside of Minrathous.

But there were times when it got too much, the cold and the quiet. And that was what found him sitting in his tent, somewhere on the edges of the Western Approach with the crystal in hand. In the morning they would continue the hunt for Fen'Harel and his agents, but for the night he was content to rest and listen to his Karan- who wore the crystal Even in sleeping- breathe.

\----------------------

A thousand miles away, Dorian Pavus settle a little further into the bed and took care to keep his breathing deep and even. He didn't always know the right words to give his Amaris, didn't know how to combat the loneliness they both felt. But he could lay still and quiet, holding the crystal close to his heart, until the man he loved fell asleep.


End file.
